LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 3 - I don't want to go to the Academy that's about to be a mess...
-Whoosh
“Ninety-eight…”
-Whoosh
“Ninety-nine…”
-Whoosh
“Hundred!”
-Thud
As soon as I reached 100 swings, I immediately dropped the sword from my hand and collapsed, landing on my backside on the dirt floor.
“Haa… haa…”
I’m so exhausted I can’t even speak.
Let’s rest for a moment and think.
…I can’t think of anything but rest.
—–
“Phew…”
After quite a long rest, my breathing finally steadied.
“This body is really trash.”
A body that can barely manage 100 sword swings even with mana floating frantically.
Honestly, I feel like my powerless body from my previous life doing manual labor was better than this.
-Wooo… woong…
Ah, it’s about time.
If I rotate mana for too long, I experience something called ‘magic congestion’, which is like a muscle cramp.
Usually, magicians experience this briefly before reaching the 2nd circle, but how long do I have to feel this?
-Woong…
I slowly decrease the flow of mana.
As the mana rotation stops, the weak physical enhancement on my body starts to fade.
“Ah, no… cough!”
-Thud
What fell on my hand covering my mouth was blood.
I was coughing up blood.
-Drip
As I release the physical enhancement, the accumulated muscle fatigue stabs at my already broken body once again.
The level is so severe that the blood refluxing to my throat is enough to turn the dirt floor into mud.
“Haa… ugh!”
I can’t even breathe well because of the flowing blood.
“This terminal illness, really…!”
This is why I’ve been trying to build up my body for days.
This damn body coughs up blood if I move too much in any way.
On the first day, I swung the sword five times and fainted for half a day due to coughing up blood, that says it all.
It’s something that I’ve built up enough muscle in fine days to swing 100 times without fainting.
“Just wait until I reach the second circle… ugh!… I’ll never release the physical enhancement.”
The mana in my body now is barely at the 1st circle.
If I reach the second circle, the amount of mana will increase, and the ‘magic congestion’ I mentioned will disappear.
In other words, I won’t have to cough up blood due to rebound by deliberately turning off the physical enhancement like this.
“Later, when I build some muscle and my body gets better, the rebound will decrease too… cough.”
Ah, really.
—–
Late in the evening, while cooking a rabbit I hunted, I thought.
‘I need to make a plan soon.’
Building up my body is the most important, but next to that, planning is crucial.
Now that I know problems will arise if the story proceeds as in the original work, it’s almost certain that I need to intervene in the events.
The problem is that my current limitations are too clear compared to the enemies who emerge to match the protagonist’s growth.
I might be able to forcefully intervene in the early stages, but their clashes will blow me away by the middle.
And the penalty prevents me from helping the protagonist’s growth to increase stability.
-Sizzle
-Whoosh
-Sizzle
“It’s well-cooked.”
However, not all paths are blocked.
If the protagonist is not an option, I’ll raise the main characters.
If it follows the basic storyline, it should be the spirit archer, swordmaster, archmage, and saint, right?
-Drip
-Sizzzzle
“Even the sauce makes a delicious sound~”
But what can I do? Those main characters have amazing backgrounds.
Elf prince, Imperial duke, disciple of the magic tower lord, child of an angel
“……”
How can I fit into that lineup?
My head is already hurting.
-Clack
A deliciously grilled rabbit brushed with special seasoning.
“Well, let’s think about it while eating.”
Thinking while eating might reduce the headache a bit.
—–
“Ah. I’m full.”
Eating your own cooking is the best.
I wanted to use some of the money I received from my helper, so I went down to the territory.
But,
The territory had long since fallen.
Of course, what fools would live in a territory where the lords fled?
Well, let’s move past that.
-Clack
“This is the problem…”
Right now, I’m contemplating how to solve the biggest problem.
For other problems, solutions can be roughly made even if left to luck.
But for this one, I can’t see any way out.
Villainesses.
As I mentioned, there are villainesses who are rivals to the main characters.
A swordswoman who inherited the blood of madness, a mage who sees people as objects and conducts human experiments without hesitation, an elf who despises humans, and a mafia boss who would sell people for money.
Moreover, they have personalities that are completely different from those of their rival main characters.
To sum it up:
“It’s a mess.”
Looking at it laid out, it really is a mess.
Even if you caught eight stray dogs and put them in one cage, their personalities wouldn’t clash this much.
“Haah…”
What should I do?
Suddenly, I didn’t want to go to the Academy.
The Academy is a place where even insignificant people fighting results in fireballs and aura blades flying around.
In such a place, with the incidents caused by the main characters and villainesses, should I…
“Get involved?”
Let’s think about it seriously again.
Do I really have to get involved there?
The answer came after long contemplation.
‘Yes.’
Shit.
No matter how much I think about it, I can only imagine the Academy collapsing, not a solution.
“I’ll just go to sleep.”
Yeah. Let’s sleep.
There’s no use thinking more here, let’s just sleep and think early in the morning.
The carriage is coming the day after tomorrow anyway.
I still have one day left.
–
“Hmm, I messed up.”
I accidentally slept for the whole day.
Maybe the accumulated fatigue finally burst.
-Whoosh
Thinking I might have seen the time wrong, I looked at the timer on the admission confirmation letter again, but
“Oh no…”
It only confirmed that the time I saw was correct.
-Ding
The alarm sound of the crystal ball wakes up my dazed mind.
[We’ll arrive soon.]
Like a fantasy taxi driver, the coachman helps me regain my scattered senses.
“Oh…”
My scattered mind returned.
“Prepare, prepare!”
I need to hurry.
-Woong
Mana starts rotating as I get up.
“How did I… huh?”
The flow of mana, something’s different?
-Woong woong
If I had to compare, would it be like oiling a stiff bicycle chain?
The movement of mana, which seemed twisted, has become lighter and faster.
-Whoosh
I swing my arm after physical enhancement.
Unlike before, I could clearly feel it was faster.
“Oh.”
It seems I didn’t accumulate fatigue, but fainted as my body reached the second circle.
“Only reaching this now…”
By this world’s standards, the second circle is a level that a beginner who just started learning magic reaches in a week.
The second circle is when the movement of the mana inside the body doesn’t break and continues, like forming a single circle.
Simply put, I’ve just learned how to move mana a bit.
“No talent.”
I can barely do anything with mana other than rotating it.
Since regaining my memories, it took nearly 20 days to build a body that cannot even use basics like Fireball.
“Still, it’s better than nothing.”
Let’s think positively.
At least I won’t be a burden to the coachman by coughing up blood in the carriage on the way to the Academy.
-Clop clop clop
Just then, the sound of hooves from outside.
“Guest!”
Seems the carriage has arrived.
-Swish
Looking down, I see my sweat-soaked clothes and dirty appearance.
“Perfect timing!”
I haven’t even washed yet.
—–
After quickly washing, I roughly dressed and packed my belongings.
“I’m sorry!”
Since I came out late, I should apologize first.
“Uh…”
But the response was somewhat strange.
He has a blank expression as if about to drop the twig he is biting.
“Excuse me…?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. It’s been so long since I received an apology for such a small thing… hehe.”
The old coachman expressed his gratitude and opened the carriage door.
“By any chance, are there many guests who take being late for granted?”
A question I asked out of curiosity while riding in the carriage.
“Being late is normal. There’s no way a person with the job of a coachman would be a noble, so what noble would care about a coachman?”
“Ah…”
Today’s additional common sense: the nobles of this world have no moral decency.
“Young master, you’re quite a kind-hearted noble.”
“No, I’m not. I just made a proper apology. Besides, what kind of noble is a fallen one? I’m just a commoner.”
“Hahaha! For a noble to lower himself to a commoner and mix words with me, this job is worth doing for a long time.”
“Is that so? Well then!”
-Tap
I came out of the carriage and carefully sat next to the coachman.
“Oh… oh! It’s dangerous!”
“I was feeling bored on the way, too, so please tell me some stories about the world.”
It would be boring to go quietly for 4 days, and I’ve met someone to talk to after a long time. Let’s gather information while listening to various stories about this world.
Of course, the biggest reason is that it seems fun.
“Hahaha. Alright. Then, I look forward to your company for the next 4 days.”
“Likewise.”
—–
Before I knew it, two days had passed since leaving the mansion.
While talking with the coachman, I heard many stories about the game that I didn’t know.
Such as the average attitude of nobles and people’s perceptions of mana and aura.
Listening to the coachman’s anecdotes, I had a quite enjoyable time learning about settings I didn’t know.
“Guest, would you look to the side?”
-Whoosh
As I turned my head in the direction the coachman uncle pointed with his hand
“Wow…”
A vast green field.
Beyond the horizon of that green field, a beautiful sunset was falling.
“Such sights are hard to see even as a coachman. You’re lucky.”
“Indeed.”
Just the yellow light of the sunset shining on the green fields.
The sky was far away where the night was approaching, but the shining horizon and fields were sceneries that couldn’t be expressed in words.
No photo or painting could have captured this beauty.
The coachman and I silently watched the setting sun while pulling the carriage.
Before we knew it, the sunset had gone, and the carriage was running along a sea of stars with falling meteors.
“Hehehe. We saw something good.”
“Thanks to you, sir, we got to see something wonderful.”
“I’m grateful even for such humility.”
A night sky overflowing with stars that are hard to see in modern times.
I could understand why the expression’ sea of stars’ was used in classic novels.
Truly, countless stars were keeping their places, emitting different lights.
“There are many stars.”
Just a muttered thought that came out while looking at the night sky.
“Of course. It is the map for us coachmen.”
He answered, just smiling and looking at the night sky together.
“I see.”
Although it was just an experience in a carriage going to the Academy, I feel this experience will not be easily forgotten.
Author’s Notes
Sunsets are really beautiful as you ride across the land.